Effacts & Complications of Ascariasis

As mentioned earlier, Ascariasis could remain asymptomatic but could be fatal if the infection is severe.

Children is more prevalence to the infection, thus we're going to discuss the sequelae and complications on children more.  

Complications of Ascariasis arisen due to 2 important process. 
1) Obstruction
2) Migration

In Ascariasis, if the worm burden is too severe, it might be huge enough to form a clump, called worm bolus which can obstruct the intestinal lumen. Problems arisen due to the obstruction. Other than watery diarrhoea, the infected child might show sign of project vomiting cause the food ingested were being stuck at the point of obstruction. Consumption of food might lead to abdominal discomfort and thus they may show sign of anorexia.

Malabsorption is another severe complication of Ascariasis in children. The worms in the intestine can block the intestinal surface and thus impair the ability of absorption. Lack of nutrient causes children to have stunded growth and they can present with steatorrhoea, short stature, skinny, night blindness....etc.

Another complication arisen when there is migration of adult worm from the intestine to elsewhere of the body. The migration can be trigger by drugs or temperature.

The migration of worm can causes problems at the site of migration. Normal sites of migration include mouth, anus, lungs, bile duct and pancrease. Migration to the mouth could cause the child to vomit worms; to the anus leads to worm emesis, to the lungs could lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome; to the bile duct and pancreas could causes acute inflammation.